For a player who has attracted as much attention as Caitlin Clark, it may seem almost impossible to argue that she is underrated. Yet that is precisely the case WNBA analyst Robin Lundberg is making. Clark has faced constant scrutiny since entering the league, with virtually every aspect of her game subjected to intense debate, from her shooting efficiency and turnovers to her defence and overall impact on winning.

Lundberg believes the cumulative effect of those conversations may have actually pushed Clark’s perceived value in the opposite direction. So rather than producing more objective analysis of the Fever star, the relentless debate over whether she is overrated may have caused a significant portion of the audience to overlook just how exceptional she already is. 

“Here’s how bad WNBA media is. They made Caitlin Clark underrated. Think about that for a second, because I feel like that’s pretty much true.” Lundberg said in a video shared on his YouTube channel on Sunday.

To further ground his point, Lundberg cited a take from broadcaster Ryan Ruocco, who observed that Clark is the most criticised player in the WNBA, and that it is almost as if criticising other players in the league is treated as inherently problematic, while criticism of Clark flows freely and without the same pushback or consequence.

The irony, as Lundberg sees it, is that where legitimate micro-criticisms of Clark’s game have been raised over the years, she has largely answered them. But both those and the more baseless ones have compounded into a perception problem that undersells what she is actually doing on the court. 

“With Caitlin, those micro criticisms have existed from her fans and supporters and analysts or whatever. About the mid-range, she got better in the mid-range. Isolation scoring, got better in isolation scoring… So she’s answered all the micro-critiques.”

“And then you have the nonsense critiques, you know, the overstated things: ‘They’re better without her, she’s a petulant baby.’ And when that gets hammered over people’s heads all the time, in a way, she sort of becomes underrated. Because Caitlin Clark as a basketball player is out-of-control good. She’s out-of-control good.”

An example Lundberg cited was the case of WNBA analyst Zena Keita. While praising Olivia Miles for an incredible debut season, Keita claimed that Miles had set the all-time WNBA single-season rookie assist record. That record, however, belonged to Caitlin Clark, who recorded 337 assists during her 2024 rookie year, more than 100 assists above Miles’ 228 this season.

That same Clark assist record was, in fact, ignored in a recent post by the NCAA, which highlighted former NCAA stars setting records in the WNBA. Alongside players such as Paige Bueckers, A’ja Wilson, and Angel Reese, the NCAA highlighted Olivia Miles for having the second-most assists for a rookie. But Clark, who actually holds the top spot for that stat line, was not included in the post.

And these are not isolated incidents. They form part of a broader pattern, one that includes Clark being left out of the WNBA’s 30th Anniversary poster, being omitted from a prime-time game promotional graphic, being placed 11th in the player-voted All-Star ballot, and the reluctance to include her in MVP conversations by WNBA on ION despite her ranking third in the WNBA in scoring, being tied for first in assists and being the first player in WNBA history to record 800-plus points and 300-plus assists in a single season. 

Lundberg isn’t the only one hinting that Clark has become underrated. The Fever’s head coach Stephanie White herself hinted at something similar while speaking to the media following their dominant 111-91 win against the Connecticut Sun last Friday.

“You watch her, and I think it’s easy to take for granted some of the things that she does.”

Her numbers are historic. But the recognition has fallen short, and that, Lundberg argues, is the paradox at the centre of the Caitlin Clark conversation.